Is magic back for New England? Sox enjoy a big lead, Pats favored to win it all

Thursday

Jun 28, 2007 at 12:01 AMJun 28, 2007 at 11:16 PM

Are we, once again, the hub of the baseball/football universe? The folks at BetUS.com think so. They just came out with their odds to win Super Bowl XLII and, to the surprise of everyone who’s been living in a cave for the past few months, the Patriots have been installed as 3-1 favorites to raise another Lombardi Trophy in February.

By Eric McHugh

Are we, once again, the hub of the baseball/football universe? The folks at BetUS.com think so. They just came out with their odds to win Super Bowl XLII and, to the surprise of everyone who’s been living in a cave for the past few months, the Patriots have been installed as 3-1 favorites to raise another Lombardi Trophy in February.

Some perspective - the defending champion Colts got 7-1 odds to repeat, which means it must be OK to start writing those ‘‘Why can’t Peyton Manning win the big one?’’ stories again.

Coincidentally, the latest World Series odds (also from BetUS.com) have the Sox as 3-1 favorites, too. Yes, that was before Curt Schilling’s shoulder owie, but a 10-game lead is some comforting insulation.

So the degenerate gamblers think we’re rushing headlong into another sports paradise, which is nice. Of course, we must point out that odds have become a touchy subject around here lately.

Celts, Bruins? forget them

After all, the Celtics spent months making loud beeping sounds as they tried to back up to the Greg Oden loading dock, and you know where that got them. They had the second-best chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick (19.9 percent) and wound up tumbling all the way to No. 5. So now Oden and Kevin Durant will be cloistered in the Pacific Northwest and we’re reduced to talking to Joakim Noah about daddy Yannick’s groundstrokes and Billy Donovan’s mental state. Oh, what fun.

Then, of course, there’s poor Dave Lewis, who thought he was a mortal, lead-pipe lock to return as Bruins coach until GM Peter ‘‘Mulligan’’ Chiarelli tapped him on the shoulder and said, ‘‘Um, Dave, could I see you in my office?’’ Now it’s Claude Julien running the show. Or Claude Lemieux. Or Claude Rains. Or Julie Andrews. Whoever.

By the way, let’s hope Question 1 on Chiarelli’s ‘‘So, you want to coach my team?’’ quiz was something along the lines of, ‘‘How many Bruins skaters, maximum, are allowed on the ice at one time, assuming you don’t pull your goaltender?’’ If the answer came back as, say, nine - which is what Lewis often seemed to think - let’s hope Chiarelli moved on to the next candidate.

But back to the Big Two (Pats and Sox), who have been carrying the pro sports banner around here for quite a while.

Despite coming off an all-time playoff choke job - up 21-3 in the final minute of the first half of the AFC championship game in Indy - the Patriots are all the rage now. With Adalius Thomas, Randy Moss, Donte’ Stallworth and Wes Welker in the fold and Junior Seau making like Roger Clemens, the Pats have become the darlings of the preseason magazines. A sampling of Super Bowl predictions: Sporting News - Patriots over Cowboys; Street & Smith’s - Patriots over Saints; Pro Football Weekly - Patriots over Saints; Athlon - Patriots over Cowboys.

Do you see a trend here?

While the Patriots have potential, the Red Sox have reality. At 46-25 they own the best record in the majors and the biggest cushion of any division leader. The Yankees made some noise by winning nine straight and 11 of 12, but those rambunctious Rockies took them down a peg in Denver this past week. Meanwhile, the Sox seem to have righted their ship, even if Julio Lugo’s average is collapsing faster than Vince Wilfork in a flimsy lawn chair.

And while we’re on the subject, what kind of odds could you have gotten on this back in April? Home runs since May 9: Coco Crisp 4, Barry Bonds 3.

Anyway, might we be gearing up for another 2004 around here? And by 2004, we mean that magical, 13-month span in which the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVIII (Feb. 1, 2004), the Red Sox won the Series (Oct. 27, 2004 - as if you could ever forget), and the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXIX (Feb. 6, 2005).

Could we get that lucky again, just three years later?

Nothing is guaranteed, of course. But name another city that has a better chance of turning that sort of championship double play.

Indy is disqualified because as good as the Colts are, there’s no major league baseball in town. Oakland is out, too, since they don’t have a real NFL team.

New York? Well, with twice the teams, it’s always got a shot, although the Yankees have a ton of ground to make up, the Mets seem to be allergic to June, the Jets have the misfortune of playing in the Patriots’ division and the Giants have the wrong Manning under center.

Minneapolis? Well, you gotta like any team that has Torii Hunter, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Johan Santana (that would be the Twins). But your Vikings quarterback is Tarvaris Jackson and you can’t feel good about that.

Milwaukee/Green Bay? Philadelphia? Long shots in football and baseball, respectively.

Kansas City? Pittsburgh? No, on the baseball front.

Baltimore? Cincinnati? Ditto.

Detroit? Phoenix? Only if you believe in football miracles.

San Diego? Ah, now, there’s a worthy adversary.

The Chargers - at 6-1 the second-best option for 2007, according to BetUS.com - might have knocked off the Patriots in the AFC divisional playoffs last season if they hadn’t taken fistfuls of stupid pills right before kickoff. Coach Marty Schottenheimer is no longer an employee (probably a good thing) but LaDainian Tomlinson, Philip Rivers and Shawne Merriman are (a better thing). The Chargers come to Foxboro in Week 2 and that’s a game that should be circled in red on your calendar.

Rehearsal this weekend?

No need to wait that long for a Red Sox-Padres tilt. We get a potential World Series preview this very weekend at Petco Park, where the hosts can show off their exquisite pitching staff, led by Jake Peavy (9-1, 1.98 ERA), Greg Maddux (6-3, 3.90), Chris Young (6-3, 2.26) and save king Trevor Hoffman.

Come the fall, arms like that could make San Diego’s quality of life even better than it already is.

Summer officially started the other day, which means that NFL training camps and pennant chases aren’t too far away.

Enjoy the lull now.

Check back in August and September and October, when we could be sitting on top of the world again.

Eric McHugh of The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Mass.) may be reached at emchugh@ledger.com.

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